Al-Anon Family Groups of SE Wisconsin

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Al-Anon Family Groups of SE Wisconsin Al-Anon Family Groups of Southeastern Wisconsin provides help for families and friends of alcoholics.

05/05/2025

“Today I got the same angry barrage of emotions from the same person who has reacted that same way for ten years. It made me wonder, ‘What am I doing still standing here?’ The Suggested Al-Anon Welcome states that ‘it is possible for us to find contentment, and even happiness, whether the alcoholic is still drinking or not.’

“I don’t know if I would apply the words contented or happy to myself right now, but I do know that today I know a little more about how to take care of myself. First, I didn’t argue back even as the words rose in my throat. Second, I chose to remove myself. Nothing I could have said would have made it better. The things that were producing anger in the other person were not necessarily mine to solve.

“Learning what was mine to solve was difficult for me. I was taught that if there was a problem that needed to be solved, and I could solve it, then I should solve it. But I had learned from past experience that solving all of the problems would not make the other person happy if they were choosing to be angry. If anger was their choice, then new emotions would just line up behind the others like soldiers. I would end up exhausted and sad, because nothing I was doing was solving the actual problem… The thing that I am most grateful for, is that when I get to a safe place, I am allowed to cry. It hurts to get yelled at. [The Al-Anon] program doesn’t tell me that I can’t or shouldn’t be sad. It is okay for me to grieve the situation and the relationship. I know that I can take those feelings to … my Sponsor, or a trusted Al Anon friend. I don’t have to go it alone.”

“What Is Mine to Solve,” “The Forum,” March 2025

Al-Anon members come together every week for support and to find ways to deal with living with an alcoholic family member or friend. Is there or has there been a history of alcoholism in your family? Maybe Al-Anon can help.

Meeting info:

🔹 https://al-anon.org/al-anon-meetings/

21/04/2025

Alcoholism affects the entire family, not just the alcoholic. As the years go by, the family members often try everything they can think of to make the drinking stop only to realize that no matter what they do, the drinking continues. Many families turn to Al-Anon for support. In time, they come to realize that no matter how much they love the alcoholic, they can only control their lives and that the alcoholic is responsible for his or her life. If you have tried and tried to help someone stop drinking to no avail, maybe Al-Anon can help you.

Meeting info:

🔹 US/Puerto Rico/Bermuda/Canada: goo.gl/DcR3qn

🔹 Other areas: goo.gl/V4319R

🔹 Online/phone: https://bit.ly/3j10N09

07/04/2025

“The entire course of my life has been in reaction to those hidden, denied feelings. I became rigid, trying to control change in my life and in other people’s lives too. I looked to others to fill the emptiness in my heart and provide the safety and security I longed for as a child. I rigidly clung to the same job, the same house, and the same faltering marriage. I even passed on my coping mechanisms to my children, who followed in my footsteps.

“[One day,] my Sponsor asked me, ‘Have you forgiven yourself?’ It took me some time to be able to say, ‘Yes, I forgive myself.’ I was a child coping and surviving as best I could. I didn’t know there could be a better way until I came to Al-Anon. Before then, I didn’t have the support and love I needed to face those fears.”

“I learned how to be honest with myself,” “The Forum,” April 2017

Is there a history of alcoholism is your family? Maybe Al-Anon can help.

Meeting info:

🔹 US/Puerto Rico/Bermuda/Canada: goo.gl/DcR3qn

🔹 Other areas: goo.gl/V4319R

🔹 Online/phone: https://bit.ly/3j10N09

24/03/2025

“I often hear it said that Alateen is Al-Anon and Al-Anon is Alateen. I need to make a conscious effort to share that message with the Alateens in the group I support. When I participated in an Area Alateen Recertification a couple of years back, we had the training in person and decided to show how an Alateen meeting was conducted. Teens were willing to give up part of their Saturday to participate and got to witness some of the information shared in the training before doing the mock Alateen meeting. Everyone’s response was the same: ‘Wow! I had no idea!’”

“Investing in Our Alateen Legacy,” “The Forum,” February 2025

The Annual Alateen Recertification is now open. Read this article to learn more:

🔺 https://al-anon.org/blog/investing-in-our-alateen-legacy/

10/03/2025

“… I have had some problems with the acronym THINK. First, it is my overthinking that usually gets me in trouble; and second, it references too many words for me to remember, especially under stress. Instead, I ask these three questions:

“1. Is it necessary for me to say anything? The family disease of alcoholism tells me to share my ‘wisdom’ whether it has been requested or not. Often my God directs me to do nothing.

“2. Is it necessary for me to respond now? So often the compulsive nature of my disease pushes me to react immediately amid anger and chaos. For me, this is seldom the best time to open my mouth. It also is quite likely that I have failed to search within for my inner wisdom.

“3. Finally (and perhaps most importantly), can I say it with love, or at least with kindness? I have caused more harm and damage to myself and others, not so much by what I’ve said as by how I’ve said it. Even an appropriate message can create pain and harm my relationships with others… if delivered with anger and bitterness, rather than love and kindness.

“By the time I ask these three questions, I have created enough space from my initial reaction that I can choose my best recovery response. At the 2013 Al-Anon International Convention in Vancouver, a longtime member shared this wisdom: ‘I am not responsible for my first thought, but I am responsible for my first words or actions.’”

“Three Questions,” “The Forum,” February 2025

Alcoholism is a family disease. What members learn in Al-Anon Family Groups helps their relationships recover from the effects of their loved ones’ drinking. Read members’ stories to find out how the program has helped to improve their relationships at:

🔹 https://al-anon.org/newcomers/how-can-i-help-my/

03/03/2025

“Once I started working the [Al-Anon] Steps with my Sponsor, I experienced a feeling of emptiness that only began to go away when I started to take a look at the roots of the family disease of alcoholism in myself… The feelings that surface are, at times, unbearably painful. I was so angry at my parents. I didn’t realize how much my father’s drunken rages scared me as a little girl.”

“Looking at the Roots of My Disease,” “The Forum” February 2019

Learn more about the Al-Anon program and find out how people affected by someone else’s drinking have been helped:

https://bit.ly/3jDPexb

24/02/2025

Find out how Al-Anon members have used the principles of the program when dealing with their alcoholic loved one:

🔹 https://bit.ly/3jXuPDq

10/02/2025

“I found myself sinking further and further into depression as I tried to make sense of and control what was happening in my marriage and in our home… I went to Al-Anon at the suggestion of a counselor and found others who had thought my thoughts, felt my feelings, and experienced what was happening in my relationship.”

“A Second Chance at My Marriage,” “The Forum” November 2018

Are you worried about someone who drinks too much? Maybe meeting with other people who are also dealing with an alcoholic loved one could be helpful for you.

Meeting info:

🔹 US/Puerto Rico/Bermuda/ Canada: goo.gl/DcR3qn

🔹 Other areas: goo.gl/V4319R

🔹 Online/phone: https://bit.ly/3j10N09

06/02/2025

“It was a good six months before I really accepted [Al-Anon’s] Step One. But my life began to change. The chaos around me was still there, but I had begun to let go... I also started to keep the focus on myself. The little bits of relief I felt from the madness I had been living in were amazing. I was also heartened to see how the alcoholic began to take steps to get better as I kept myself out of the situation. This change was truly the hardest thing I had ever done, but it was the right thing to do.”

“Why I Keep Coming,” “The Forum” February 2019

Al-Anon provides support to anyone affected by someone else’s alcoholism. Find out more about the program at:

https://bit.ly/3jDPexb

27/01/2025

“Life with the Al-Anon program, to which we turn when we are deep in trouble, may ultimately confront us with a special challenge.

“At first we may come as doubters: ‘How can my terrible problem be solved by joining a group?’ Then come the revelations. We learn how to live and find serenity in the midst of alcoholic turmoil. We see ourselves growing, understanding, helping.

“But once the major problem is eliminated by the alcoholic’s joining AA, we may feel … we ‘have it made.’ We skip meetings; have no time to comfort troubled newcomers, forget about reading Al-Anon books. Then comes the challenge of continued problems and we realize how much we still need Al-Anon to keep ourselves able to meet them.”

“One Day at a Time in Al-Anon,” p. 340

At local Al-Anon meetings, you can talk with members and find out how Al-Anon helps them. You don’t need to schedule an appointment, and there is no charge for meetings.

Find a meeting:

🔹 https://al-anon.org/al-anon-meetings/

22/01/2025

Many people do not realize that living with the family disease of alcoholism – past or present – affects them too. In Al-Anon, members learn about the family disease and its effects and how to recognize behaviors and/or survival skills they may have developed in the past that are no longer useful. Once they can identify what’s no longer working, they can make healthier choices.

Learn more about Al-Anon at goo.gl/gdE7GN.

Address

Summit Place, 6737 W. Washington St. Suite 2125

53214

Opening Hours

Monday 10:00 - 16:00
Wednesday 10:00 - 16:00
Thursday 11:00 - 17:00
Saturday 09:00 - 12:00

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